Beijing and Hong Kong have slammed the G7 for “trampling the city’s rule of law” after the group criticised the guilty verdict handed down at former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s national security trial and demanded his immediate release.
The strongly worded statements on Thursday were in response to a joint call from the foreign ministers of the G7 and the European Union’s high representative, who condemned Lai’s prosecution while expressing their ongoing concerns about “deteriorating rights, freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong”.
The Group of Seven comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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“We call on the Hong Kong authorities to end such prosecutions and to release Jimmy Lai immediately,” the joint statement said.
Bringing an end to a trial that lasted more than 1½ years, the city’s High Court ruled on Monday that Lai, 78, was guilty of two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious articles.
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In their 855-page judgment, the judges said Lai was the mastermind behind three conspiracies to instigate international sanctions and hostile activities against Hong Kong and mainland China, and to print seditious articles through Apple Daily, the now-defunct newspaper he founded.
The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong hit back at the G7’s criticism, saying their statement was no more than “a piece of wasted paper”.